Almost half of all Taiwanese believe the late former president, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國, 1978-1988), was their greatest leader and made the best contribution to democratization and economic prosperity, a poll showed yesterday.
One-third of 875 people polled said Lee Teng-hui (李登輝, 1988-2000) was the president who had brought the greatest harm to society, the United Daily News (UDN) survey -- conducted on Saturday -- said.
The results of the poll on Taiwan's four former presidents were released yesterday to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the death of Chiang Ching-kuo, known as CCK.
CCK became president in 1978, succeeding Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦, 1975-1978) who took over from CCK's father and Taiwan's first president, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石, 1949-1975), when he died.
Forty-eight percent of those polled considered CCK the greatest of Taiwan's four former presidents, followed by 14 percent for his father, Chiang Kai-shek, 10 percent for Lee, and 0.3 percent for Yen.
The other respondents answered "no comment."
Sixty percent of the respondents agreed CCK made the greatest contribution to Taiwan's economic development, followed by 12 percent for Lee, four percent for Chiang Kai-shek and 0.3 percent for Yen.
CCK was named by 35 percent of the respondents as having made the greatest contribution to Taiwan's democratization, trailed by 31 percent for Lee, four percent for Chiang Kai-shek and 0.1 percent for Yen.
The poll also showed 33 percent of those questioned considered Lee as the leader who had caused the greatest harm to society.
Fourteen percent says Chiang Kai-shek created the greatest social damage, one percent named CCK and 0.2 percent picked Yen.
RSS